No Hurting
by Kiipleny
Summary: I wake up. That's weird; I didn't think I would do that again. The monsters at the Place told me that the next time I went to sleep I would be dead. Dead is when you don't wake up no more. But I did wake up, just now, so I guess that means I'm not dead. Maybe. - Completely AU
1. Chapter 1

Though the figure had run them every night for as long as he could remember, the tunnels seemed never ending. There was no sound except for the frantic splashing of hurried feet through the shallow water and the strained breathing from the small bundle in the running shadow's arms.

There was a small gasp, almost a squeak from the tiny form, and the splashes quickened, growing louder in the confined space and echoing forward around them.

"It's okay. 'S okay. Jus' keep on breathin'." The words were breathless and soft, almost becoming a plea rather than a command. "We're almost there. Jus' keep breathing."

* * *

Donatello was surfing the internet on his amped-up industrial-grade laptop looking for inspiration to start a new engineering project when a proximity alert blipped from the corner of the screen. Unworriedly, the bored genius clicked on the flashing camera icon and glanced at the security footage that came to life.

Just as he expected, it was only his older brother jogging down the sewer toward the lair.

What he wasn't expecting was to see him clutching a bundle of old tarp to his chest as if his life depended on it. Nor was he expecting the flash of tiny green feet sticking out from the bottom.

Don watched as his oldest brother and leader was lost from the camera's view. "Huh." He half rose from his seat, then paused, frowned, and sat back again.

"Huh." _Processing… processing…_ This time he made it all the way to his feet and peeked his head out of the lab and into the main area of his home. Based on the speed his brother had been moving, he should be reaching the secret entrance just about… now.

The lair door was kicked in forcefully and the figure made a beeline toward the lab. "Donny! I need ya help! Right now!"

"Raph! What's going on? What's that?"

Before any other words could be exchanged, a green face popped out from the second-floor balcony. "There's my favorite brother! How was your run? Didja bring me anything? Whatcha got there?" The questions were fired rapidly one after another without any room for response as Michelangelo flipped over the railing and ran over to Raph to try to peer into his arms. The leader ignored him completely and bulled past him towards Donny.

"I found 'im in the old lair. Quick, Don! I don't think he can breathe no more!" This snapped the genius out of his confused state and sent him straight into doctor mode.

"Right, uh… bring him in here."

The door to the lab swung shut behind the two of them, leaving a very confused little orange-masked brother standing in the living room alone.

"Uh… Guys?"

* * *

"Okay, Raph. What have we got?"

"I honestly got no clue. I found him all alone on the floor by Master Splinter's old room. 'E was cryin' and gaspin' and there was no one around, and then he started screamin', but not like baby screamin' but real pain screamin'. Then he suddenly couldn't make no sound anymore he was just curled up there by the wall with his mouth hangin' open and his eyes glued shut." Raph spoke a mile a minute as he used a free arm to sweep all the papers and miscellaneous doodads off the exam table. He then carefully lowered the bundle and peeled away the hole-riddled tarp to reveal his precious charge.

"What the shell, Raph?" Donny took a whole three seconds to blink in shock at the tiny figure now lying in his lab. It was a tiny mutant turtle, barely the size of a human one-year-old. Its skin was a pale sea-foam green that would have been paler even than Mikey's had it not been covered in sewer filth and dust, and the shell was a dark, speckled brown. As Donny's mind tried to process what his eyes were seeing, the little turtle's shallow, gasping breaths made their way through his ears and snapped him back into focus. He was a doctor, and right now, there was a very tiny, precious life in need of his help. "Right, we'll talk later. Right now I need you to get a washcloth and a bucket of water." Raph nodded and breathlessly scurried off to the kitchen.

"All right, let's see what is going on with you, little guy." Almost hesitantly, Don reached out and touched the infant's face, wincing internally at the coldness of his skin before trailing down to his throat to take his pulse. "Mikey!" he yelled over his shoulder and jumped when he saw his youngest sibling standing in the doorway looking down at the table in shock. "Mike," he continued in a softer tone, "I need you to run and get the warmest blanket you have." There was no movement in the doorway. "That means _now_, Michelangelo!" And he turned back to the table.

* * *

An hour later the three teenaged turtles stood around the table where the youngest mutant lay wrapped in two fuzzy blankets and sleeping peacefully, though his breaths were still shallow and his eye ridges would scrunch up in discomfort every so often.

"So, Don. What's the verdict?" Raph was back in leader mode, having had time to calm himself since his frantic flight through the sewers.

The middle child hesitated before answering, "It's not too good. He is suffering from exposure. He must have been lying out there for a while, I'd say at least twelve hours, if not more, and the old lair hasn't had the heat running in years, and it wasn't that well insulated in the first place. But that shouldn't be too big of a problem now that he's starting to warm up. I'm more worried about how dehydrated he was, not to mention the bruises around his plastron and what I suspect is a cracked ulna in his right arm that I found after cleaning him up. An infection of the lungs is causing his difficulty breathing, but it hasn't gotten too bad yet, so I think it won't be too much trouble if we keep an eye on it. Bruised ribs probably aren't helping his case either. I have no idea how old he is; could be only about twelve months up to four years. He's so frail and malnourished that it's impossible to tell, and since there aren't that many books about Child Development in Mutant Turtles, I guess we'll have to wait until he wakes up to get a rough estimate."

"Will he be alright though?" Mikey asked with concern, bending over and rubbing a thick, green finger gently over the baby's creased forehead. The turtle's breath hitched and he leaned slightly into the touch.

"He should recover from the bruises and cracked arm just fine, and the infection shouldn't last more than a day or three. Keeping him warm will be important for a while, but I don't know about the longer lasting effects. He's obviously not been cared for adequately. The malnutrition might have suppressed him immune system, probably stunted his growth. I don't think his heart or lungs are working at full capacity either. Whether that means that he was born prematurely and nothing was done to help him finish growing, that is if he was actually born somehow, or something went wrong in his mutation."

"That's a scary thought…" Raph mused. "More ooze? Where from?" There was a moment of silence as the three of them contemplated this new development.

"Well," Mikey began after a time, "can we keep 'im?"

* * *

I wake up.

That's weird; I didn't think I would do that again. The monsters at the Place told me that the next time I went to sleep I would be dead. Dead is when you don't wake up no more. But I _did_ wake up, just now, so I guess that means I'm not dead. Maybe.

And there are noises around me, and I don't think that dead people hear noises. Being not dead sounds like a good idea.

But noises aren't that good neither. Noises means monsters, and monsters means poking and yelling and hurting. Maybe if I pretend being dead the monsters will leave me alone and not hurt me no more.

"Hey, little guy." No. Nononononono… noises too close. Talking too close. Make it stop stopstopstop. I'll be good, I promise!

"You gonna wake up soon, buddy?" Nope. No waking. I'm dead, and dead means you don't wake up no more. Dead means no more hurting.

Then there is touching and I flinch away. Then I remember that I am supposed to be dead, and dead people don't flinch and I try to keep real still. But the touching isn't hurting. I peek one eye open, my left one because the Aprillady taught me the left and right sides and this touching feels like her touching, nice and soft and warm and not hurting.

I can see nothing because a green something is in front of my face, touching my head and feeling good and safe. Then the green something moves and I look up into a face. Look at that! It looks like mine!

* * *

"Raph, why were you even at the old lair anyway? I thought you told us not to go there anymore because the Foot knows where it is. It's too dangerous. And don't tell me you were just on a run."

"I was just on a run, I swear! I wasn't even plannin' on going close to there, but I thought I saw someone down in the sewers before I got to the surface and decided to follow 'em. After a while, I realized I was never gonna catch up and was gettin' ready to turn back when I heard the tyke cryin' and realized I'd gotten all the way over to the old lair. What was I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, call me maybe, Mr. Always-Keep-Your-Shell-Cell-On-So-I-Can-Find-You?" At this, Raph looked down and fidgeted a little before mumbling,

"Yeah, well, I might have possibly accidently left it…" Don raised his eyebrow.

"Really? Come on, Raph. Talk about hypocrisy."

"Shut it, Brainiac."

Don raised his hands in defeat. "Alright, alright, keep your shell on; I was just saying." A brief silence allowed a low murmuring from the living room to filter into the kitchen where they were standing against the counter. Mikey had barely left the child's side in the sixteen hours since his discovery. The past two had been spent gently prodding the sleeping bundle to wake up and speaking soothing words he hoped would make him feel safe.

"What are we going to do with him, Raph?" Donny continued. "We don't know anything about kids. Shell, we don't even know where about _him_. Why was he abandoned? Why was he at the old lair? In that case, why does he even exist? Mutant turtles aren't exactly that common an occurrence, and the last time we heard of anyone playing with mutagen was _years_ ago."

"I dunno, Don. But we don't exactly know anyone willin' ta take in a mutant turtle baby, do we now? Are you suggesting we put 'im back where we found 'im and forget?"

"Of course not! Geez, Raph, what do you take me for?"

"Just makin' sure. Gosh, I wish Splinter was still here; he'd know what to do."

"Yeah."

* * *

Mikey was getting impatient.

"Come on, kid. You gotta wakey wakey. I want to meet my new lil' bro. Of course, Raph hasn't said anything like that yet, but I'm pretty sure he'll let me keep ya. It'll be great! I've always wanted a little brother. I'll teach you how to skateboard and be a sneaky ninja and we'll prank Donny together and run away before he can catch us. And we'll sneak out and get pizza without telling Raph and he'll get all mad and lecturey, but mostly because we won't bring him any, 'cause he'll know that I would never let anything happen to you because I'll be the best big brother if you'll just wake up." This continued for some time.

He had lapsed into a comfortable silence after a while and was just sitting by the couch on which the child was lying when the tot's face tensed and grimaced slightly.

"Hey, little guy," Mike whispered, leaning in closer. He frowned a bit when the baby tensed even more and seemed to hold its breath for a moment. "You gonna wake up soon, buddy?" He reached out a three-fingered hand and stroked the tiny forehead gently.

There it was! A tiny flash of blue and white shone from the pale green face before it was gone again. Mikey continued the scalp rub for a moment before pulling away. Then the eyes opened fully and looked up at him in obvious shock and surprise.

"Hey there. Welcome to the land of the living!"

* * *

It was the scream that first alerted the two in the kitchen that their little charge was awake. The answering scream from their youngest brother confirmed their suspicions, and the bellowing yell of "HE'S AWAKE!" was completely unnecessary. Raphael and Donatello rushed into the living room to find the child struggling against his blankets and Mikey trying rather unsuccessfully to prevent him from doing so.

"Whoa, hold up there, tiger. It's okay; everything's gonna be okay. You just gotta sit tight for a second and calm down for Big Brother Mikey."

The child had stopped screaming and was now staring up at the orange ninja with solemn attention, although he still hadn't stopped fighting the wrappings.

"Scoot over, Mike," Don nudged his brother out of the way and spoke to the child. "I'm going to take the blankets off now; you just need to sit still for second or you'll hurt yourself." Bright blue eyes latched onto his face and the child's movements lessened greatly, though did not cease completely. "Good job," Don praised gently, reaching for the blankets and noting with concern the way the child shrank back before going limp and watching with wide, glistening eyes. It nearly broke all three teens' hearts.

In no time, all the turtles, big and small, were seated in the living room, the smallest tucked away in the corner of the couch, looking like he was doing his best to become invisible to the larger turtles kneeling on the floor in front him.

Mike made the first move. "Sorry I scared ya, little man. I didn't mean to." He reached forward slowly to rub the terrified child's unsplinted arm.

Said child let out a squeaky "No!" and promptly tried to pull his appendages into his shell. Unfortunately, he only made it part of the way before he didn't couldn't fit anymore, leaving most of his arms and legs and the crown of his head sticking out. Mikey pulled back quickly.

"Hey now, it's okay. No one's gonna hurtcha here," Raph's gruff voice had a softer tone than the other two teens had heard in a long time. He leaned forward and scooped the trembling form into his arms, ignoring the increased shaking and the keening moan that started to emerge from the depths of the tiny carapace. "I'm just gonna walk 'im around a little until he calms down. You guys okay with that?"

"I'd really rather check on him—" Don started, then sighed. "Whatever, have at it."

"But I want to hold the little guy!" Mikey whined.

"Too bad," Raph retorted with a smirk. "I saw him first."

* * *

The me-monster is right by my face and I scream to make him go away. It works, but then it screams too and it is much much louder than me. It hurts my head and I shut up.

I can't move much because of the blankets around me, but I wiggle and wiggle until they start to fall off. I don't think the me-monster likes that very much because big me-monster hands try to tuck them back around me after it yells something else. Then it starts talking again and I look up at its me-face while still pulling the blankets away.

The me-monster must have called for backup because _two more_ me-monsters show up! The purple one crouches down real close and tells me to hold still and I suddenly do, because the red one is looking mean and I don't want to make them angry and get hurt. So I just stare as the purple one starts touching the blankets too, but instead of making them tighter, it takes them away and I can finally move away as far as I can. There is a stick on my arm and I can't bend it too good, but that doesn't stop me from trying to hide in my shell when the first me-monster reaches for me again. I have gotten bigger than I was before, so I don't fit too well anymore. It just makes it so I can't see when one of the me-monsters picks me up and starts to move around.

I expect the hurting to start soon. It always does unless the Aprillady is there. But I didn't see her anywhere. My mouth starts to make noise and I can't stop it.

A long time passes without any hurting. Why? The me-monster is just holding me against its chest and humming, just like the Aprillady did. Maybe it knows the Aprillady?

My arms and legs are starting to get sore from trying to hold them in my shell, so I let them fall out and curl toward my belly instead. Then I peek my head out just enough to see a big green shoulder right in front of my face. I think I like the green right there. It is a lot darker than my skin, but it is not white like the monsters in the Place, or black like the shadow-monsters there neither.

I look up a little farther and see the red me-monster's face real close to mine, but I don't scream like before. Instead I pull my head all the way out of my shell and stare into the brown eyes that are looking at me.

"Hello," it says and I feel the chest rumble against my stomach. It almost makes me giggle.

"Hello," I say back and the me-monster smiles all big. Too big. It's mouth is too close to my face and it's full of teeth and I push back a little.

"You feelin' okay now?" it asks and I nod because that's what bigger monsters always want. "My name is Raphael, but you can just call me Raph if you want. What's yours?"

Name? That's not a question that is usually asked by the monsters, and I don't know the right answer to this one, so I just duck my head back into my shell.

"Hey, none a' that, now." And I quickly pop out again; I don't want to make it mad. But all the moving makes me dizzy and my breathing starts to hurt a little. I sneeze and then freeze. I don't know if that will make the me-monster mad enough to start the hurting.

"Aww…" I hear from behind me and I try to turn around to see. I'm surprised when the me-monster lets me without any angriness. The other two me-monsters are still there and the shorter orange one wiggles its fingers at me. I don't know what is going on and my head hurts and I'm hungry and I just want my Aprillady! I start pushing against the arms around me and when they don't loosen I reach my neck out and bite the green shoulder by my face. That makes the me-monster let go with a yelp and I fall all the way to the floor. But it wasn't too far and I get up and run away.

I don't know where I am, and this doesn't look anything like the Place but I run through a doorway and go to hide under the table when another me-monster grabs me from behind and pulls me high up into the air!

"No! No No! Put me down! I don't want to! No hurting!" And now I am crying and I can't stop even though only babies cry and the white monsters always hurt me more when I do. I am squeezed tight in more arms and I can hear words but I don't pay attention. I just kick and wiggle and cry. I try to bite the arms but I am facing out away from the monster and can't reach far enough with my arms stuck to my sides.

And suddenly I am too tired and I can't breathe too well and I get even dizzier than before so I stop fighting. "I'll be good, I promise…"

* * *

"The little twerp bit me!" Raph was grumbling in the background while Mikey ran after the young turtle. Catching up just as he reached the kitchen doorway, Mike dove forward and scooped the tot up against his chest, facing outward with his arms pinned to his sides.

"No! No No! Put me down! I don't want to! No hurting!" The turtle was struggling fiercely and sobbing with all his strength.

"No one is going to hurt you! Calm down. You're safe and I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you ever again, I promise. Just settle down, lion cub and quit trying to bite me!" If anything the sobbing grew louder before it finally began to subside, replaced by slight wheezing interrupted sporadically by cute little hiccups. The child gradually stilled and fell limp in his arms.

The words when they came were almost too quiet to make out, but when he did, they nearly broke Mikey's heart: "I'll be good, I promise…"

They walked back over to the living room where the others were waiting, Raph nursing the emerging bruise on his collar bone and Donny looking like he was lost between horror and mirth as he looked between his two brothers, then down at the now docile bundle in Mike's arms.

"Hey, can you look up at me?" Donny addressed the now exhausted child. He looked up slowly, eyes still wet and swollen and lip trembling. "That's good. Now I want you to understand me. No one here—not me, not Mikey, and definitely not Raph—_no one_ is going to hurt you at all. In fact, we want to help you get better." Don paused and watched the emotions flicker behind the blue orbs gazing into his own. "Do you understand that?"

The little mouth opened and closed a few times before finally speaking in a small voice, "No more hurting?"

"No more hurting," Mikey confirmed from his position behind him, causing the child to jump and crane his neck back to look into his face.

Raphael came over then and spoke, "We're gonna take care a' ya, keep ya safe, and make sure no one evah hurts ya again, cub. Ya got that?" A small nod and a sniffled were his only answer. "Good. Now if yer gonna stay with us, you need a name. Do you know your name?"

A hesitant shake of the head.

Raph felt the fury building within him, but he battled it down for the moment. "That's okay. We can just give ya one, tiger." The three teens looked to each for input.

"I want to call him Leo."

* * *

_Daaaw. . . Just the result of a rare free night with no internet in the middle of midterm exams. Possibly just one-shot for now; me writing more anytime soon is completely dependent on my incredibly hectic schedule, unreliable mental state, and of course some proper motivation... :) _


	2. Chapter 2

I am not dead.

Because dead is when you don't wake up no more, and I have waked up lots of times here. Here isn't the Place anymore, and I like it better. There are no white monsters or shadow-monsters, just the three me-monsters. Only, I don't think they are monsters anymore. That's because there is no hurting. Monsters are always hurting. But these ones are never hurting. I think they are like the Aprillady—she was never hurting, and these ones don't neither.

There is the Mikey-me. He rubs my head and makes funny faces to make me giggle and holds me up real high so I am bigger than him. He calls me "little brother" and "lion cub"—I don't know what a lion is, but I like it when Mikey-me says it. He gives me food too, the most yummiest food I ever tasted.

Then there is the Donny-me. He tells me stories and shows me pictures and helps me learn new words and gives me soft cuddly toys to hold when he pokes my shell and listens inside me. Sometimes there is hurting, but Donny-me always gives me a big hug and says he's sorry after, so it is okay. He calls me "little brother" too, and "buddy" and "brainy".

Then there is the Raphie-me. He is the biggest me and at first I was scared and tried to run away, but then he catched me and held me and said I didn't need to be so afraid no more. He likes to just hold me and I fall asleep on his chest a lot. But I always wake up because I'm not dead and then we play and now when I run away from him, he chases me and catches me and falls on the ground so I get away again and we just giggle and then I chase him and grab his legs so he falls again. Then we get tired and sleep some more. Raphie-me calls me "little brother" just like Mikey-me and Donny-me, but he calls me "twerp" and "knucklehead" and "shortstuff" too.

They all call me "Leo" too, and I like it a lot.

I have bad dreams sometimes and start to cry, even though only babies cry and I'm not a baby, but one of the mes is always there to hold me and shush me and rock me until I sleep again. And then I wake up, because I always wake up and that means I'm not dead. That means that the monsters at the Place were wrong.

* * *

"Now where could Leo have gone?" A poorly-stifled giggle erupted from underneath the kitchen table. Michelangelo grinned to himself and made exaggerated motions of exasperation and defeat. "I can not find him! Where is my favorite little brother?" More laughter, even less concealed than the first. "Is he behind—HERE?!" And he jumped behind the couch. "Nope. No little lions back here. Hmm. . ."

Leo could barely contain himself at all now.

"I give up, Leo! Give me a teensy hint?" Mikey called toward the kitchen, and then waited expectantly.

He didn't have to wait long. "No! No hints! Come find me, Mikey!"

"Oh, all right. But all this looking is making me hungry…" He paused to see if there was a reaction from the table. Nothing. "Maybe I'll have to go and get myself a snack from the kitchen first." The giggles came back in full force before cutting off with a little cough. The teenager frowned, but the coughing fit was brief and the giggles came back before long.

"Phew! I am just too tired from looking for that sneaky ninja kid. I think I'll just sit here at the table for a little rest." Carefully pulling out a chair before plopping into it, Mikey could hear the squeals of laughter that sounded like they were being hidden behind two little fists. He reached out his feet under the table, "Let me just streeeeeeetch!" and his toes touched a familiar form, tickling along its sides. "Ah! What is this?! A little monkey under my table?" His toes continued their dance, reaching under Leo's armpits and eliciting happy screams.

"No, Mikey! Not a monkey! Just a Leo!"

"What?! No. . ." Michelangelo popped his head under the table in mock disbelief. "Well, wouldja look at that—it is just a Leo." The two turtles' laughter could be heard all throughout the Lair.

* * *

"Well, they're certainly having fun—it must be one of Leo's good days," Donatello mused to his brother after blocking the incoming sais with his bo. It had been barely a week since the addition of their smallest family member, and Leo was making amazing progress. He still was slow to trust, though he seemed to have latched onto Mikey the fastest, and would sometimes retreat into fearful silence with little provocation, but there were times every so often when he was just a normal carefree kid, playful and happy.

Based on his grasp of speech, they had decided that he was about three years old, though you wouldn't think so to see him. The average human three-year old is about 37 inches tall and 33 pounds. Taking into account that the three teenage mutant turtles were slightly shorter and heavier than the average human, Raph the tallest at 5' 2" and Mike the shortest at 4' 10", Donny deduced that Leo should have been at least 32 inches tall and 30 pounds. Leo was significantly smaller than that.

The initial measurement put him at a scant 25 inches and 19 pounds, with bony arms and legs and skeletal fingers and toes where pudgy baby fat should have filled in. With a steadily increasing diet and vitamin supplements, the child had gained 3 pounds and grown a half inch over the week, but he was still woefully underweight.

He was weak too, easily exhausted and weaker than a kitten, though part of this may be attributed to his injuries and lingering sickness. After the initial confrontation upon his awakening and the excitement that followed, Leo had soon fallen asleep, although reluctantly, still not really trusting the turtle teens fully. He had awoken early the next morning with a pathetic-sounding coughing fit that immediately had all three ninjas at his side until he could breathe normally once again and was reassured of his safety within the Lair.

Once he had warmed up to his new older brothers, the toddler began to spend his time either sleeping—mostly with Raphael—or investigating his new world. Donatello was surprised and delighted at the little turtle's inquisitiveness and was happy to spend time talking and teaching while Leo looked on with large eyes. Of course, these times only happened every once in a while, separated by periods where the child would refuse to speak at all and would just sit frozen wherever he was placed, cringing away from the comforting hands and voices that were offered to him. Sometimes Michelangelo was able to bring him out of one of these "episodes" before too long, but mostly nothing they could do would put Leo at ease until he either snapped out of it or fell into a troubled sleep.

It was these episodes that led Donny to suspect that whatever trauma Leo had been subjected to his entire short life had had an effect on his developing mental state, almost a split personality of sorts. Rapid mood swings and periods of fear and confusion were his mind's way of trying to cope with his past and comprehend the sudden change in situation. With a lot of patience, love, and a little bit of luck, Don was certain that they could help Leo work through his problem and let him develop in the most normal way a baby mutant turtle living in the sewers with three teenage mutant ninja turtles could.

Donatello was pulled out of his thoughts when Raph shifted his stance, changed his grip on his sais, and used the momentum from Donny's own attack to throw him over his head and slam him down on his back.

"Looks like I'm havin' a good day too," the oldest turtle said, kneeling on his brother's arms and pointing a blade under his chin. "You yield to my immense power, little brother?"

"Ya, whatever," Don grumbled, "Now get off; your immenseness is crushing me."

"Was that a fat joke I jus' heard? 'Cause this—see this, here?" Raph flexed his bicep in Don's face, "That's all muscle, string bean."

"Alright! Alright! Geez, just get off me, man! I wasn't kidding about the being crushed part." The leader laughed as he finally stood up, making sure to gently kick his brother in the head as he did so.

"I'm gonna go see what all the fuss is about in the kitchen. You comin'?"

"Nah, I have some equations waiting to be solved in my lab and a TV waiting to be fixed since someone decided to run into it and knock it off the stand."

"Whoa, hey now. That was completely not my fault. The little bugger jumped me!"

"Raph, you do realize that that 'little bugger' is barely to your knee and weighs about as much as a small welsh terrier?"

"Right, take his side," and Raph playfully punched the genius' shoulder. "Go on then, geek face. I'll call ya for dinner in a bit."

* * *

Later that night, the brothers met for a conference in the dojo. Donatello was the last to arrive.

"Leo's sleeping on the couch; I gave him some medicine because his chest was hurting again and it knocked him right out."

"Poor little guy…" Mike said softly as he glanced through the doorway at the back of the couch.

"Don, I thought you said that infection was gonna clear up in a matter of days. It's goin' on a week now and he's still hurtin'," Raph accused, though without much of his usual sting. If anything, he seemed more frustrated and helpless than angry.

The scientist sighed. "I know what I said. The infection has cleared up, for the most part, and there lies the problem. I don't know if Leo's chest pain and lingering cough is just a tag-along from his illness that will go away on its own in a few days or if it is more permanent. If it's permanent, I don't know if it was the infection that caused irreversible damage or if it is a result of his underdeveloped lungs, heart, and possibly his immune system, in which case he might have had these symptoms for his entire life. Maybe it's a combination of both? I really can't say without official medical facilities and actual medical equipment."

"But he's not gonna die, right Donny?" The youngest of the three was still looking worriedly at the back of the couch as if he could see through the cushions at the fragile form on the other side.

"What? No, of course not." Donny was surprised. "Haven't you seen him running around and playing? He really is doing better—he's actually doing amazingly considering his condition when we got him. No, he's not going to die; I'm just worried about long-term health issues: heart problems later in life, susceptibility to sicknesses like bronchopulmonary dysplasia, pneumonia…" He trailed off seeing the sadness in both his brothers' faces. "But seriously, guys, I don't think it'll be a huge problem, at least not right now. Sure, he's tiny and delicate and weak right now, but as long as we take care of him, Leo'll be perfectly fine. I think that what we really need to be talking about is where he came from. We've put it off while taking care of Leo and making him feel safe, but we can't just let this go. I think Raph needs to tell us everything that he remembers." He stopped and looked toward his leader expectantly.

* * *

_I seriously love you guys, especially the six that have reviewed. I love reviews! They make me happy. :) _

_So, I have a rough plan for the rest of the story, but any input that you have is welcome. Any specific scenes you want to see with Lil' Leo, any eventual plot devices, characters that you want to show up... No promises, but I like suggestions. :)_

_Also: my sister read this a few days ago and told me that she was really confused. Now, maybe that's my fault, or maybe she was just being difficult, I don't know. But just to clear up- _

_Leo as a **teenage** mutant ninja turtle and the oldest brother never existed in this universe; Raph is the oldest and the official leader, and so is a little more laid back and fun than in some of the canon narratives (my interpretation is that since he didn't feel the pressure to compete with Leo or have the "second-son" complex, as well as having to hold more responsibilities as the oldest, he grew up without so much jealousy and anger); Splinter has been dead for at least a year, maybe a little more (but that's okay because I don't really know if I like him as a character and I didn't want to write about him :P )._

_As a team, the three turtles have fought the Foot, Stockman, and the Purple Dragons (I think I'm going to stay away from the whole alien and mystic side of the franchise and stick with the more realistic aspects like the live-action movies, but with more characterization from the 2k3 cartoon)._

_They do not know April, but Casey is their friend (he'll come later)._


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